Thread coloring attachments for shoe patching machines



H. E. M GREW July 5, 1955 THREAD COLORING ATTACHMENTS FOR SHOE PATCHING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 1. 1955 INVENTOR FIG. I.

H. E. M GREW 2,712,297

THREAD COLORING ATTACHMENTS FOR SHOE PATCHING MACHINES July 5,v 1955 Filed April 1. 1955 INVENTOR HENRY E. MC GREW United States Patent Henry E. MeGrew, Louisville, Ky. Application. April. 1, 1953, Serial No. 346,223

1 Claim. (Cl. 118-43) This invention relates to a coloring attachmentqfor shoe patching machines. e r

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple attachment whereby any colored. ink or pigment can be selected for the coloring of. a thread being used in a shoe patching machine by simply depressing a plunger to engage the thread withthe desired coloring material with which the thread is to be colored.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an attachment which can fit in the shoe patching machine without interfering with the use of the samei'and in a convenient and readily available manner.

It is another object of the invention to provide a coloring attachment where the containers for the coloring material are exhibited and can be observed at all times so as to give indication to the user of the attachment as to the exact color being used and also to indicate whether or not the unit would need to be replenished with coloring material.

It is another object of the invention to provide an arrangement of units containing coloring material which, when aligned with one another, are each shaped so; that a thread can pass over the unit without being colored by the same, and wherein upon it being desired to color the thread, a button will be depressed to bring a plunger to bear upon the thread and to impress the thread jnto a pad containing the coloring material.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a coloring attachment for shoe patching machines which is of simple construction, inexpensive to manufacture, has a minimum number of parts, of pleasing appearance, easy to refill, maintains the thread in a tight manner, compact, durable, convenient to use and efficient in operation.

For other objects and a better understanding of. the invention reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the coloring thread attachment with portions of the same broken away to show the interior parts;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view taken on line 22 of Fig. l; I

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 33 of Fig. 1 with the press button disengaged;

Fig. 3a is a sectional view similar to Fig. 3 with the press button held down and with the plunger engaging the thread with the coloring pad;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view and a collective view of one of the coloring units;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the thread retaining weight arrangement at the end of the casing.

Referring now to the figures, represents a main casing in the form of a tray or box bottom and having a bottom 11. This casing 10 also has sides 12 and 13 and end walls 14 and 15. The tray or casing 10 is long and narrow and is adapted to contain a plurality of coloring units 16 extending from one end of the cas- 2,712,297 Patented July 5, 1955 ing to the other. Each unit 16 hasa base '17 wi'th a top part 18 having a threaded. opening 19 therein adapted to receive a cylindrical cap 21 having" threads 23 engageabie with the threaded openin 19. The o posite side of the base 17 is open or de ressed to p ovide a supporting bottom 24' for a sponge pad 25. Thefront wall of the base 17 is cutaway to provide a low edge 26* while the" rear wall provides a hi h ed e 27 over which the thread willnornially pass and be supported in a. manner shown in Fig. 1. This thread is indicated at 28 and .will normally rest on the rearedge 27 tin-less depressed for engagement with the sponge 25.

Colorin liquid in the forth of ink, pigment, or specially formed lacquer is placed in the cylindrical cap 21- and the base 11 will u'e screwed on to the same.

The unit "isthn inverted and Ii'qiiid wilt pass into the bottom ofthe base 17 and laterally and upwardly through a hole 29 and fed into the sponge 25 so-that the samef becomes saturated with the particular coloring liquid. the liquid gets below a certain level in the ca 21', which is transparent, the same can be refilled with the li uid-J ing portions 31 against which the cylindrical caps 21 may rest and for the purpose of aligning the caps with holes 32 provided in thejcover plate 33 for receiving caps. The closed upper .end of the cap will extend upwardly through the opening 32 of the cover 33 so that they can be readily observed at any time.

On the underside of the 'cover 33 there projects downwardly a bracket 34 of angle section and having a horizontal portion 35 through which a plurality of plunger rods 36 extend. These rods overlie respectively the units 16 and respectively have a soft foot 37 on their respective lower ends for engagement with the thread 28. A compression spring 38 rests on the horizontal portion 35 of the bracket 34 and at its upper end engages with a washer 39 which is held-against displacement on the plunger rod 36 by a cotter pin 40. In the plunger rod 36 at one side thereof is a notch 41 adapted toengage with the side of the opening in the cover through which the rod 36 is pushed so as to hold the soft foot 37 in the down position against the thread 28 and against the sponge or foam rubber pad 25 bearing the coloring liquid. The thread 28 is pulledthrough the end wall of the attachment and will accordingly be colored with the color of the unit corresponding to the plunger rod which has been depressed. The upper end of the plunger rod 36 has a button 42 on which the finger can be placed to depress the rod.

The rod will assume the position shown in Fig. 3a, and the spring 38 will be compressed. When it is desired to release the rod 36, the same is moved laterally so that its notch 41 will be made free of the side of the opening through which the plunger rod 36 moves.

On the end walls 14 and 15 there are provided weighted thread retaining arrangements indicated generally at 43, and as illustrated and shown in Figs. land 5. This thread retaining arrangement 43 includes a bracket mem-' ber 44 which is fixed to the outer face of the end wall beneath a hole 45 through which the thread passes and preferably lying somewhat close thereto.

This bracket 44 has upstanding guide pins 46 and 47 adapted to extend respectively through holes 48 and 49 in a weight plate 51. In this manner the thread will be retained against longitudinal displacement except when force is applied to the thread to pull the same. Within the casing 10 thread will normally be supported on the rear edges 27 of'the coloring units.

The attachment is fitted into a space between the spool holder and the tensioning device of the shoe patching machine. The attachment can contain a number of various colorsvvhile but a' sirigle sp o ol or thread'is used on the machine. The thread is white and will be colored any one of the various colors contained in the coloring units.

While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it shall be understood that such changes shall be within the spirit and scope of the presentinv vention, as defined by the appended claim,

What is claimed is: 1 QA thread coloring attachment for shoe patching machinescomprising an elongated casing or tray, a plurality of thread coloring units lying within the casing in side by siderelationship, a cover'fitted upon the top,

of the casing and having a series of openings, said coloring units respectivelyhaving" cup portions respectively projecting through the-respective openings inthe cover, and manually operable plunger: rodsextending respectively through said cover, said casing having end walls with respective openings vertically and horizontally aligned with respect to each other and-throughwhich a thread may be extended, to pass such thread through the,

casing, said coloring unitsrespectively having sponge pads adapted to lie beneath the thread and horizontallyextending edges for normally supporting the thread normally hold the same tensioned'within thecasing.

References Cited in the file or this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,730,950 Schmidt et a1. Oct. 8, 1929 1,759,326 'Scholler' l May 20, l9'30 1,802,602 Hellweg j 'Apr. 28, 1931' 2,310,764 Denhof Feb 9, 1943 2,410,336 Carter'et al. 'Oct. 29, 1946 2,425,251 

